CAT 2015 pattern changed, entrance test on Nov 29

Mon, 27 Jul 2015 18:05:49 IST

New Delhi,July 27: CAT 2015 pattern has been changed to provide an even field to candidates from divergent streams and for a better assessment of data interpretation ability. The Common Admission Test (CAT) will be held on November 29 for admissions to prestigious B-schools in India.

Here are the changes made in CAT 2015 pattern:

1) Instead of two sections, there would be three sections in CAT 2015 exam – Quantitative Aptitude (QA), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VRC).

Till last year, data interpretation was a part of QA and logical reasoning was part of VRC.

2) QA and VRC will have 34 questions each, DILR will have 32 questions.

3) CAT 2015 entrance test will be held in two sessions on November 29 and results will be announced in the second week of January 2016.

4) Not all questions will be objective. Some questions in each section may require students to type direct answers.

5) Duration of the CAT 2015 examination has been increased to 180 minutes (3 hours) from 170minutes. Candidates will be allotted exactly 60 minutes for answering questions in each section and they cannot switch from one section to another while answering questions.

However, the use of basic onscreen calculator for computation would be allowed.Director of IIM-Rohtak P Rameshan felt the change in format may bring in more rationality and diversity in gender and academic background as there would be written answers too.

The CAT exam has been criticised for being biased towards candidates from engineering background but the changes could provide an "even field to candidates coming from different streams", said an IIM faculty.

A former IIM director said the changes would help in better assessment of how the future managers can collect data from multiple sources and make sense of it.

Registration for CAT 2015 will start on August 6 and candidates can download their admit card from October 15.